A List of the 101 Most American Things in 'Murica

How do you even determine a thing like the best country in the world? There are many metrics by which we, Planet Earth, determine which small part of this already infinitesimal corner of the known universe harbors the best homo sapiens. And after polling the forty-odd Americans, two Brits, and two Canadians in the office, we can say, with complete and total objectivity, that the United States of America is that country.

Now to say we have our shortcomings would be an understatement, from the significant and substantive (police brutality and racial inequality that should have ended long ago) to the small but very annoying (Fox News and Toddlers and Tiaras, which, to be fair, is closer to reality than Fox News ever gets.) But just in the last week, things got a little bit better, and President Obama bore his soul and sang Amazing Grace in front of a nation to punctuate what has otherwise been an awful year. America: It's a pretty badass place.

In honor of its birthday, we put our red, white, and blue brains together to compile 101 of the most American things we could muster. Not all are endearing—many aren't—but they're no less a part of the place we call Home. And while we know there are other lists out there, we can assure you this is our favorite. You might say it's like the America of lists.

11 - BEYONCÉ
12 - Jay-Z, I guess
13 - Chrissy Teigen
15 - Making lists about America
16 - Fireworks
17 - "Firework" by Katy Perry
18 - Lighting things on fire recreationally (see also: blowing things up recreationally)
19 - Fire
20 - The word "y'all"
21 - Being good at the Olympics
22 - Calling sports teams that win American leagues WORLD champions
23 - Megan Mullally
24 - Making a game show out of surviving on an island where people actually live
25 - John Deere
26 - Low-key summer hangs
27 - That thing where we yell and gesture wildly at people who don’t speak American and think it’ll help
28 - The way we think everyone speaks American
29 - The way we think English is called American
30 - BD Wong
31 - Having food delivered